Friday, March 4, 2011

Dark Eldar alpha-strike army

Hello, all! Sorry for not posting lately, I've been on vacation for quite a while, but now I'm back, and another army list which people have talked about but not dared to make: The Dark Eldar Alpha-strike. So, let's look at what will go in it...

HQ
Well, there's only one elf for this job: Asdrubael Vect! In the Dais of Destruction, he comes in at a hefty 440 points, and that's before his retinue (stripped-down wyches). Still, however, there's one more piece of the puzzle left, and that's why I'll also add the Baron. Why the baron? Because he's incredible, that's why. 105 points, but mostly, re-roll to see who goes first, which is imperative for an Alpha-strike army. Coupled with Vect's ability to seize the initiative on a 4+, that means you have an 87.5% chance of getting the first turn, pretty good odds in my opinion. So, for HQ, we have a total of 545 points. Hefty, but necessary.

Troops
So for troops, what will we take? Well, the answer is of course, lotsa darklight weapons! One unit of 9 wyches with Hydra gauntlets will accompany Vect, as his mandatory retinue. Then 2 further units of Warriors with a dark lance, both in Raiders with darklances, gives you 4 more strength 8 lance shots. Why no blaster? Well, in a perfect world, you'll want to be going first, with your army all deployed, ready to kill, and seeing as in a standard mission no-man's land is 24", that 18" range suddenly doesn't look so scary. Finally, the mandatory unit of Hellions to go with the Baron. 1 unit of 15 (Ala GoatBoy) should be sufficient for our purposes, aka, killing things in Close Combat.

Fast Attack
2 units of 6 Reavers with 2 blasters apiece. Why? Well, for extra lance shots, of course, but also for their speed. Finally, 1 unit of 5 with one blaster.

Heavy Support
Finally, 3 Ravagers. Not much to say about these, but 9 more dark lance shots is invaluable. also, coupled with an affordable 315 for the lot, it's pretty nice.

So, the final list looks like:

Asdrubael Vect w/ Dais of Destruction, 9 Wyches w/ Hydra Gauntlets

The Baron

x2 10 warriors w/ Darklance, Raider

15 Hellions

2x 6 reavers w/ 2 blasters

5 reavers w/ blaster

3 Ravagers

total: 1,999 points.

I wouldn't take this list to a tournament, certainly, but with 21 Lance shots hitting the enemy turn 1, It's certainly not weak, either. Leave any comments or additional tactics, they will be appreciated!

5 comments:

  1. Havng been playing DE for quite some time. And having had a few tournaments with the new dex there are a few things I would recommend changing.

    First up is the Dais. It is just not worth its points. With DE you always want to be moving. And without the Aerial Assault rule your never gunna be firing more than one gun. Your better off with a Raider.

    Secondly, I too started off with blasters on my Reavers. I quickly came to find out though that Heat Lances are so much better, especially since the DE jetbikes are Eldar jetbikes and can move in the assault phase. The 2x6 should be enough.

    15 Hellions is a bit unwieldy. I recommend cutting back to 10-12 and getting a Helliarch with Agoniser.

    Dark Lances in raider squads just doesnt make sense. Since the Raider really needs to be always moving your never gunna shoot with the squads DL unless the raider dies. And its a waste of points to not use that DL for half the game. Take a Blaster and SC for the same cost and the unit is much better.

    Wychs are a great tarpit, but Vect is a Deathstar. Either make the Wychs into bloodbrides (with flails, and syren with agoniser) or get some Incubi for Vect to with and give the wychs shardnets and haywire grenades.

    I highly recommend if you have the points to give the Ravagers(and raiders if you can afford it) Flickerfields. You'll be surprised how often that 5++ saves your bacon.


    Lastly, Baron does not allow a re-roll on who goes first. He gives you +1 to your roll.

    Now you have a competitive DE alpha strike list that can hold its own when that 13% of going 2nd ends up happening (as it will more often than you'll like)

    I tried to give recommendations based on what you already wanted. And to not completely rewrite your list idea.

    Good Luck and Good Hunting

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  2. Good stuff, Tordeck. I was wondering a little bit myself about how well this would do against a foot list. While the current meta-game should always be taken into consideration, this is a little bit too heavy on the anti-tank for my liking.

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  3. Well that's one of the good things about DE, your rides are always gunna be great at dealing with mech, and your guys can put out a load of poisoned fire to deal with MC, or hordes en mass.

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  4. Tordek: thanks for the advice. I have actually been experimenting with DE, and I've found a unit that does it all: 10 warriors with a splinter cannon and a shredder. At only 105 points, I have used it to absolutely destroy an ork army almost single-handedly, and even, in a game-winning volley, shoot down 5 tactical marines and a captain.

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  5. why not lady malies? she gives you a re-roll to seize initiative and forces your opponent to re-roll his if he succeeds. plus she has great poison.

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